There are so many different things that you can make in your solar oven. A favorite snack in our house is hard boiled eggs…. especially quail eggs. They are BITE SIZED!

You can use a solar oven to “hard boil” using the hot air inside the oven.

When using a solar oven for eggs, an easy hack it to hard boil eggs is to put them in a carton inside the oven. The carton needs to be one of the paper ones, not the plastic or styrofoam ones because the cartons will melt inside the oven.

Once you place your eggs in the carton, set them inside your solar oven. Seal the lid and add the reflectors. The quail eggs will take between 90-120 minutes depending on the temperature.

A solar oven is an oven that you use outdoors to cook food while using only the sun as your power source. It is virtually an outdoor crockpot that has no need to plug in. The sun can heat the oven anywhere from 150-300+ degrees. There are no extra power or heat supplies needed besides the sun. And it saves money by not having to run your inside stove or your AC in the summer time. Free power!!!

Anything that you can cook in a crockpot or an oven indoors or even on the stovetop or in the microwave to reheat, you can cook in your solar oven (excluding frying). You also need a clear view of the south (when in the northern hemisphere.) You can cook for one person or for a dozen for a single meal in the solar oven.

When can I use my solar oven?

You can use a solar oven any day that you have 20-30 minutes of sunshine every 60 minutes and at least 5 hours of cook time. You can use your solar oven in the summer or in the winter time. Yes, it can be partly cloudy, however, rainy days, severe windy days and full cloudy days, you may not be able to get your oven up to heat enough to cook your foods. For those windy days, you can place your oven in an area that gets blocked by the wind, you will heat up sufficiently. You can use your solar oven even with snow on the ground. Be careful of the wind blowing and try to keep it out of direct wind while it is cool outside. That will lower the temperature inside your oven.

What can I use my solar oven for?

You can use your oven for slow cooking, heating and pasteurizing water, baking bread or sweets, roasting a chicken, dehydrating vegetables and fruits, heating canned foods, reheating leftover foods, making a quick sun tea, “pan cooking” hamburgers, etc. The only thing that you cannot do is fry your food.

Setting up a solar oven.

Setting up you oven is very important to know how to do it. You have to make sure that you seal the oven to keep the heat inside. The reflectors are very easy to put on and do help raise the temperature inside the oven especially in the winter time.

Pasteurizing Water to make safe for drinking

Pasteurizing water is important in a situation of needing fresh and healthy water. Poor water supplies causes 80% of all sickness and disease in developing countries. Pasteurization destroys all microorganisms that cause diseases from drinking contaminated water. The goal is to get your water over that 150 degree mark. You need to keep your water supply at the 150 degrees for at least 10 minutes.

(Significant inactivation of these microbes actually starts at about 5°C (9°F) below these temperatures, although it may take a couple of minutes at the lower temperature to obtain 90 percent inactivation.)

The Water Pasteurization Indicator (WAPI) (pronounced wa-pee) capsule contains a special wax that melts at 65 degrees Celsius–sufficient to pasteurize water by killing disease-causing organisms including E. coli, rotaviruses, Giardia and the Hepatitis A virus. The WAPI now has the added benefit of a tough stainless steel cable and brass end caps, which allows it to be used over a campfire as well as in a solar cooker. The WAPI is especially valuable when camping or in situations where solar cooking is not an option.

It is reusable AND one comes with the solar ovens that I have with me.

Listing of some of the foods that can be cooked

Bread, dinner rolls, cornbread, biscuits

Breakfast Rolls, cinnamon rolls

“Hardboil” eggs

Roasts

Potatoes, including au gratin

Deserts like brownies, crisps and cake

Casseroles / enchiladas

Canned goods can be reheated

Beans / Chili

Rice and Quinoa

Chicken breasts

Whole chickens/rabbits/quail

Chops – pork, goat, lamb

Fish

Veggies like cauliflower, zucchini, butternut squash

Stuffed peppers

Meatloaf

You can use fresh, canned, dehydrated or frozen ingredients – you can even use your freeze dried storage meals and heat the water needed without the use of any energy beside the sun.

What are some basic tips?

Dark pots work better than light colored pots. No clear glass.

Short or shallow pots work better than tall ones.

Several small pots work better that a single larger one.

Foods cooks faster with a lid on the pot.

You do not have to use just the pots that come with the oven. Experiment with other items including cast iron, clay or metal loaf racks.

You can transform your solar oven into a dehydrator using home-made screen trays (and cracking open the lid.) Make sure that the screen that you are using is metal and not a plastic screen.

The more food and/or liquid, the longer it will take to cook your food.

Cutting foods into bite sized portions will allow the food to cook faster.

DO NOT let this oven just sit and collect dust. Please experiment and use it before there is an emergency and you HAVE to know how use it! Know how to use before the time comes.

Rinse the meat and trim off larger pieces of fat. Cut into thirds if desired to speed up cooking time. Liberally rub spices on all sides. Place in a solar oven pan and refrigerate overnight.

Cook in the solar oven for 4+ hours. As always, check for doneness and adjust cooking time depending on oven temperature.

Once the pork is cooked and slightly cooled, slice and hand pull it using a fork and knife. Mix in barbecue sauce to taste. To serve, place pulled pork on bun and top with cole slaw.

Whole Chicken, (or Quail, or Rabbit)

one whole chicken

one lime or lemon

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Add chicken to solar oven pan. Juice ½ lime over side of chicken. Flip chicken and juice other ½ of lime over the other side of the bird. Sprinkle with garlic powder.

Cook in the solar oven for 6-8 hours. As always, check for doneness and adjust cooking time depending on oven temperature.Stuffed Peppers

Mini bell pepper,

cream cheese or other soft cheese

aluminum foil

Slice the tops off of the mini bells. Spoon in cream cheese. Place peppers on aluminum foil, standing upright. (This will take 2 or maybe 3 hands!) Pull the sides of the aluminum foil up and twist corners to form a bundle.

Cook in the solar oven for 4+ hours. As always, check for doneness and adjust cooking time depending on oven temperature.

Baked Potatoes

Large potato

Wash potato. With a fork, poke several times. Wrap in aluminum foil and place in solar oven. Let “bake” all day.

Chorizo Stuffing

1 pound of beef or pork chorizo

12 ounces of dried bread crumbs (packaged or home-made)

4 stalks of celery

1 small onion

2 cans of chicken broth

Break apart sausage into small pieces. In you solar oven pan, mix together all dry ingredients. Pour chicken stock over the top and cover pan with lid.

Cook in the solar oven for 6-8 hours. As always, check for doneness and adjust cooking time depending on oven temperature.

Dump Cake

1 package of cake mix (or a homemade cake mix)

3 cups of fresh fruits (berries, cherries, apples, peaches, etc)

½ – ¾ cups water

4 Tablespoons butter

(Substitution – if you are using canned fruit rather than fresh, use one full can, including liquid and omit the water)

In solar oven pan, stir together cake mix and fruit. Add water and mix. It will be lumpy!! Do not over stir. Place 4 tablespoons pats of butter on the top of the batter. Cover with pan lid.

Cook in the solar oven for 6-8 hours. (This cake will not rise. It is a gooey cake, not a fluffy one.)

Roasted Garlic

4-6 six whole garlic bulbs

½ tablespoon of olive oil

Aluminum foil

Cut the top off of each bulb of garlic. Place garlic in center of foil sheet, cut side up. Drizzle olive oil on top of garlic. Pull up sides of foil and twist together.

Place foil packet into solar oven. Cook in the solar oven for 4+ hours. Serve on bread, crackers or spread on meat.

Solar Oven Stuffed Bell Peppers

Featured in the upcoming Solar Oven Cookbook – Released by July 1!!!

www.mazybooks.com

This dish is eaten often in our house especially in the summer time when bell peppers go on super sale at the grocery store and when our garden is in over abundance.. Our two youngest kids often just eat the fillings out of the pepper. I am always hoping!

This recipe can be easily doubled where you can fill both solar oven pans.

I absolutely LOVE my solar oven. I don’t use any fuel so I am saving money and it doesn’t heat up my house to cook. My parents, sister and I all have one and have been experimenting with different recipes. Chicken is the favorite in our house.

On tonight’s menu – boneless chicken breasts with sun-dried tomatoes and portabella mushrooms sprinkled with Montreal seasonings and Rosemary Red potatoes with a spritz of extra virgin olive oil.Imagine the solar oven as a “no-plug in” crockpot. It takes about the same amount of time to load it up as a crock-pot and even the 10 year old can put on the reflectors!! You don’t add any water! It cooks in it’s natural juices!